Apparently there was a time Before Chocolate Chip Cookies (BCCC), though it’s hard to imagine it.

That BCCC time was prior to 1933, which was the year Ruth Graves Wakefield, who owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusettes, was making chocolate cookies when she realized she had run out of regular baker’s chocolate. Not wanting to leave her customers wanting, she substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate from Nestlé, thinking that this chocolate would simply melt and mix into the batter as the baker’s chocolate had. However, to her surprise, the chocolate did not melt and what came out of the oven were the world’s first ever chocolate chip cookies. Her customers were delighted and asked for more. The love affair with CCC had begun. Wakefield sold the recipe to Nestlé in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate chips.

The cookies gained popularity during World War II when GIs from Massachusettes, who were stationed overseas, received care packages from home which included CC cookies. They shared these cookies with other GIs from various places around the country and before long Wakefield was inundated with letters from around the world asking for her recipe.

Today, 25% of all cookies baked in the United States are chocolate chip cookies. And out of all the CCC recipes I’ve tried, this one is definitely our favorite.

Recipe for Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies (aka Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Makes 112 cookies (This recipe can be halved.)

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
24 ounces chocolate chips
1 8 ounce Hershey bar, grated
3 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts. Bake on a greased baking sheet for 8 minutes at 375°F.

Can be frozen in plastic wrap, if desired, and then thawed and cut into rounds. Bake on a greased baking sheet for 8 minutes.


Tasting Notes
The proof of the pudding (or in this case, the cookies) is in the tasting. This is what two-thirds of my daughters have to say (Anna, my 11 year old, declined to comment since she doesn't like chocolate chip cookies!):

If you like this post, share it!


If you like this blog, you can subscribe and get updates automatically.

Click here to learn about subscribing.

Click here to subscribe.

To see an index of recipes, click here.
To see a visual index of recipes, click here.
To see an index of Julia Child-inspired recipes, click here.

If you like this post, share it!


If you like this blog, you can subscribe and get updates automatically.

Click here to learn about subscribing.

Click here to subscribe.

To see an index of recipes, click here.
To see a visual index of recipes, click here.
To see an index of Julia Child-inspired recipes, click here.

How many people, when thinking of spaghetti, think of that charming scene in the movie “Lady and the Tramp” where Lady and Tramp are both slurping up the same long spaghetti noodle, ending when their lips meet in a slurpy kiss?

Who says spaghetti can’t be fun?

For most families, spaghetti is a kid pleaser and nothing could be simpler to make for dinner. Once you have spaghetti sauce in the freezer, it’s simply a matter of boiling the spaghetti and heating the sauce. And voilà! Dinner is served!

History
The pasta we call spaghetti originally came from China where it was made from either rice flour or hard wheat flour with water and salt added.

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are known to have their origins in the Americas so the first tomato sauce would have been made by the Aztecs. However, when we talk about spaghetti sauce today we are thinking about it as an Italian recipe. In fact, the earliest recipe for spaghetti sauce has been found in a cookbook printed in 1692 by Antonio Latini. Hmmm – that’s 318 years ago! Any food that survives that long has got to have something going for it!

My go-to Spaghetti Sauce recipe has evolved through the years and I release it to you as a favourite from my family to yours.

Recipe

1 can of tomato paste
2 fresh tomatoes
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 jar of pasta sauce (my favorite is Original Ragu)
2 tablespoons oregano
¼ cup chopped, fresh basil
½ cup onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt to taste
Fresh black pepper to taste
5 small cans kidney beans (optional)
½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Brown onions and garlic. Add all other ingredients except the kidney beans and Parmesan cheese. Bring to a boil. Transfer to a crock pot or slow cooker. Simmer for two hours. Add the kidney beans (if desired) and simmer for one more hour.

Do not skimp on the simmering time.

The Secret’s in the Simmering

After the cooking is complete, cook spaghetti as per the directions on the package and top with this succulent sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. It’s also fun to serve cottage cheese with this meal, which gives the spaghetti a lazy Lasagna feel.

This sauce freezes well and is handy to pull out for a quick and easy dinner. It’s also a favourite for camping. In small containers, the frozen sauce acts as ice blocks in the cooler – ready to be pulled out and added to a pot of spaghetti cooked over a campfire.

And speaking of campfires, how about a song to go with the dinner? This song, sung to the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey” was popularized in 1963 by Tom Glazer and the Do Re Me Children’s Choir.

On Top of Spaghetti

On top of spaghetti,

All covered with cheese,

I lost my poor meatball,

When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,

And on to the floor,

And then my poor meatball,

Rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden,

And under a bush,

And then my poor meatball,

Was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tasty

As tasty could be,

And then the next summer,

It grew into a tree.

The tree was all covered,

All covered with moss,

And on it grew meatballs,

And tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti,

All covered with cheese,

Hold on to your meatball,

Whenever you sneeze.

If you like this post, share it!


If you like this blog, you can subscribe and get updates automatically.

Click here to learn about subscribing.

Click here to subscribe.

To see an index of recipes, click here.
To see a visual index of recipes, click here.
To see an index of Julia Child-inspired recipes, click here.

Wisconsin Cheese has offered to giveaway 10 cheese planes (knives) to 10 of my readers.

And the winner is...
#7
Hope from Hope in the Kitchen!
Congratulations!  

I came home one day after work last week to a parcel from Oliviers & Co. filled with a bottle of Basil Olive Oil, Ketchup, Balsamic vinegar and bubble wrap. The first thing we did was put the bubble wrap on the floor and stomp. There's something so joyful about jumping and so pleasurable about popping bubbles all at the same time. We do this at New Year's every year, but it was fun to do at the end of summer break.

That same night, we found the Cat's Cradle string and taught each other how to pull the x's to make new and magical shapes with a simple line of string.

bubbles pop
hop and giggle
stomp
i'm alive
i feel
i laugh
i'm airborne
flying
soaring
living
jumping


A homemade vinaigrette is so simple to make. There's really no reason why you should ever buy a bottle of store-bought. The ratio for vinaigrette is 2-3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. You can add flavorings such as mustard, salt, and pepper. Always whisk the vinegar and flavorings first, and then whisk in the oil. {Although just popping everything into a tupperware container and shaking works too.}


And always use the best olive oil and the best vinegar. In this case, I was lucky to have a small jug of Basil Olive Oil from Oliviers & Co. that was lightly aromatic and fresh.

Recipe for Vinaigrette
¾ teaspoon sherry vinegar (or half red wine vinegar and half cooking sherry)
⅛ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or Basil Olive Oil from Oliviers & Co.


Recipe for My Salad*
Romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
carrots, chopped
celery, chopped
broccoli, in florets
cauliflower, in florets
cilantro, chopped
old cheddar, cubed
hot Italian sausage, cooked and sliced
papaya, cubed

* Inspired by a friend who is eating a whole-foods-only diet: no preservatives, no sugar (except for the odd temptation of a Theo chocolate bar), and lots of raw food.


Giveaway
Oliviers & Co. sent an extra 2010 Catalogue filled with beautiful photos and recipes. This 70-page soft-cover booklet is charming, and I'd like to send someone my extra copy.

Giveaway starts Monday, September 6, 2010 at 12:01:00 a.m. Eastern Time ("ET") and ends on September 11, 2010 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET. One winner will be chosen using Random.org.

Include your email in your comment so that I can reach you. If your name is selected, and your email isn't included, I'll draw another name.

How to Enter:

1. Follow me on Twitter, then Tweet this giveaway. Make sure you come back here and comment to let me know you now follow (or already do) and that you tweeted. That counts as ONE, not one each. Just one.

2. Sign up on the Google Friend Connect (see the widget in the left sidebar at the top of my home page). Then leave ANOTHER comment on this post.

3. Subscribe to my RSS feed. Then leave ANOTHER comment.

4. Post about this giveaway on your own site with a link to this post. Return. Comment. Rinse, repeat. You get the picture.

GO!

Links
Virtual Bubble Wrap
"I ♥ Bubble Wrap"® apparel
How To Do Cat's Cradle
HI + LOW: J-U-M-P
Oliviers & Co.

If you like this post, share it!


If you like this blog, you can subscribe and get updates automatically.

Click here to learn about subscribing.

Click here to subscribe.

To see an index of recipes, click here.
To see a visual index of recipes, click here.
To see an index of Julia Child-inspired recipes, click here.